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Ho, Ho, Ho-Hum: Holidays Not Always Filled With Joy

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None of this is intended to mean there might not be some real issues brought
on by the holidays. Information from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., puts
the problems into three categories: psychological or emotional; physical; and
financial.

For those that didn't grow up on Walton's Mountain, childhood was not always
a fairy tale. The holidays can bring a lot of family around, and that can cause
stress. Unresolved feelings may try again, unsuccessfully, to resolve
themselves. Bad memories may resurface, or feelings that have been simmering
all year may flare up around the holidays. Perhaps a loved one died around the
holidays last year. Just fill in the blank: the emotional reasons can be
numerous.

"A lot of times, people think that somewhere out there, there's an ideal
family. I haven't met one yet," clinical psychologist Patricia Gore tells
WebMD. "The reality of what has happened in the past is not in any way
close to what the ideal is, so people start thinking, they get sad because they
think about what's missing. Or maybe somebody who isn't here this year who was
there last year, maybe somebody's died, or -- in the case of most of the people
I work with -- it's sad memories of things that happened at holiday times,"
she says.

Physically, too, the holidays may be the final straw in a the busy-career,
two-kids-and-a-spouse, multiple-responsibility, workaday life. And then,
financially, some people may not be able to afford the holiday they'd like, or
feel they're supposed to have.

Gore says a little perspective can go a long way. "Something I try to
point out to people, it's only one day, it's only one day, it's like any other
day, and it will come and it will go and that's it," she tells WebMD.

The Mayo Clinic has some suggestions to help ease the strain. Acknowledge
feelings, be realistic, set differences aside, if possible, and resolve family
issues after the holidays. If necessary, seek out help or support if the issues
are overwhelming. Budget money and time. Retain healthy habits; don't use the
holidays as a time just to eat, drink, and be substance-induced merry.
Meanwhile, stay in the spirit.

"In fact, it really is [A Wonderful Life]," Gore tells WebMD.
"So what I try to do is get people to look at what they do have. Maybe it's
not the ideal, maybe it's not textbook, maybe it's not the picture-perfect
Christmas that you'd like to think about, but there are a lot of positive and
good things in their life, and I try to get them to focus on that. ... Of
course, the best way to get over the holiday blues is to do something nice for
someone else."